A quote from Carl Jung

[Sena]

"Life, so-called, is a short episode between two great mysteries."

[inavalan]

This is an intriguing quote. I looked it up ...


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It is from "Letters vol 1", page 483.

I don't quite understand what he meant, considering that it is from a letter of condolence.

... I was grieved for him. Now he has vanished and stepped outside time, as all of us will do after him. Life, so-called, is a short episode between two great mysteries, which yet are one. I cannot mourn the dead. They endure, but we pass over ...

Surely  I can speculate, but to me it matters more how I interpret it.



https://archive.org/details/letters0001jung/page/482/mode/1up
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[Bora137]

Freud

'I have found little that is 'good' about human beings on the whole. In my experience most of them are trash'

I don't see how anyone who wanted to help people could hold this belief. I find little in Freud that is of any use. Highly egotistical and completely incapable of having his theories questioned. Jung on the other hand is a hero imo managing to bridge the psychic and scientific worlds with his theory of archetypes.

[inavalan]

Freud

'I have found little that is 'good' about human beings on the whole. In my experience most of them are trash'

I don't see how anyone who wanted to help people could hold this belief. I find little in Freud that is of any use. Highly egotistical and completely incapable of having his theories questioned. Jung on the other hand is a hero imo managing to bridge the psychic and scientific worlds with his theory of archetypes.

Everyone's subconscious creates a reality according to his emotions and their intensity, in the framework of his beliefs and expectations.

The events and situations he experiences tend to continue and amplify the same kind of emotions, but  usually not in the same way: fear will cause frightening events and situations of some nature; anger will create more anger of some nature; frustration more frustration; compassion more occasions to feel compassion; ...

Negative emotions are usually more intense and more lasting than positive ones, because they're related to the survival instinct.

The intensity of the emotion is the important factor. It doesn't matter if the emotion warranted or not by our norms.

This raises interesting questions about sociopaths, on one side, and bleeding-hearts, on the opposite side.

Considering that the physical reality is a school, and that all probabilities happen, that there is no established, nor unique past or future, the good and evil don't have the meaning we're "educated" to assign.


In interpreting quotations, we have to recall that their authors may use some words with a different interpretation than we do, especially when they're translations (e.g. from German); the quote context has to be considered too.

For example, searching Jung's "Letters" for the words "endure" and "pass over", I learned that he, or his translator used them with a different meaning that I was tempted to give them at first.

[Mik]

I wish I knew where I acquired this. But I've been aware of it for over 30 years, so maybe you can help my weak memory.

A Buddhist novice asks his master- "Oh Master is reincarnation real?". The master replies: "Of course it is! But it is a complete distraction. Ignore it." Then the master hit the novice on the head with his stick.


Two things:
  1) Once well beyond being a novice, it does pay to understand reincarnation.
  2) But not if the quest interferes with being happy and loving today.